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When Microsoft employee, Brandon LeBlanc announced that Microsoft ruled the netbook world, he was exaggerating, shall we say, just a wee bit. I was going to stomp on him but Chris Kenyon of Canonical, the business that stands behind Ubuntu, beat me to it.

Brandon Le Blanc from Microsoft posted an interesting post about Netbooks and Linux last week. While we agreed with his comments about customers wanting choice and looking for outstanding hardware options, we disagree with much of his analysis and unsurprisingly the overall ’spin’ of the post.

Our friends over at Ostatic have posed a good question, one I’ve thought about in the past. They are looking at the feasibility of Android-based netbooks, something we’ve covered here, and give a good case for open source netbooks. The problem they point out is that such netbooks, often running some flavor of Linux, usually have lesser hardware components than Windows-based netbooks.

I opened up my Acer Aspire One again after a prolonged interval while I was involved in a very different project and was puzzled to discover that Live Update was offering me a "Bluetooth patch". It's not just that the hardware doesn't have Bluetooth...

The anti-Linux propaganda du jour, being dutifully parroted by "news" publications everywhere, is that Windows now owns 96% of the netbook market, and that Linux netbooks are returned four times more than windows netbooks. Both are untrue and have been debunked repeatedly. Yet they persist-- why?

The VAR Guy loves cat fights as much as the next guy. Jennifer Aniston vs. Angelina Jolie? Classic but a bit dated. Canonical vs. Microsoft? Not quite as sexy, but certainly timely and just as much fun. The latest spat involves Canonical dismissing Microsoft's claims in the netbook market.

Microsoft pounded itself on the chest last week saying over 96% of netbooks now use Windows. This made me somewhat sad, because I was hoping these little computers could be the break Linux had been waiting for.

Sometimes, you have to respect someone for sticking to an opinion and a vision. Other times, you have to wonder if a consistent vision becomes a fatal flaw. A case in point: In a New York Times article, Red Hat CEO Jim Whitehurst (pictured, right) once again dismisses speculation that Red Hat will pursue the consumer Linux desktop and smart phone markets. Here's why.

Microsoft says that Windows dominates -- and will continue to dominate -- netbooks because customers are looking for a familiar, PC-like experience, as well as compatibility with their peripherals and software such as Microsoft Office.

Cutting costs is crucial for computer manufacturers and the buying public, which explains the flourishing popularity of Netbooks -- mini-sized and budget-priced laptop computers. But how can manufacturers dice the price even further? Hewlett-Packard might have the answer: use Google's Android OS instead of Microsoft's Windows. The combination is perfect for three reasons.